The Logic of Fate

by Gavrahil

Harry’s world stands at the brink of destruction and Voldemort has a plan! But hope is often found in the most improbable of places. 7th Year AU story. R&R!

2. Much Ado About Dudley

A/N: Again many thanks to my little bro for beta-reading and to those of you, who have kindly reviewed.
And now, on with the story. Have Fun!

Chapter 2 – Much Ado About Dudley

When the residents of Privet Drive saw him strolling down the street lazily that summer afternoon, he clearly recognized the looks of indignation at his scruffy appearance, but he ignored them and continued his walk towards Wisteria Walk, breathing in the fresh air and enjoying the last warmth of the fading day.

Harry had to admit that this one had been the best summer he had ever spent with the Dursleys – mainly because his aunt and uncle had obviously decided to completely ignore him. They didn't speak to him, they didn't listen to him; they didn't even seem to acknowledge him, when he entered the same room. But Harry had long since learned that such peace was a precarious state in the Dursley home, so he tried everything to uphold it – mainly by avoiding his relatives whenever he could.

That left him though for the first time in his life with quite a huge amount of freedom, which he used to stroll through the city during the day and explore it thoroughly. He even went to central London a few times and visited the city his aunt and uncle had never wanted him to see, probably because they were afraid that he would blow it up, no doubt. But he had visited the Tower of London, wandered along Piccadilly Circus and fled the loud music of a nightclub, but not before he was repeatedly told how cool his hair looked. He had smiled inwardly at this statement, as he considered that Muggle boys usually spent hours in front of a mirror trying, with the aid of tons of hair gel, sprays and other stuff like that, to get their hair as untamed as his was naturally.

He had though discovered quite quickly that those Muggle clubs were nothing he could get comfortable with, so he went back to using the evenings for his homework, even if the sights certain girls had offered had been very intriguing.

'I mean, geez!' he thought while walking down Wisteria Walk. 'I didn't know that a girl could have so much skin to show to begin with. Hermione would have had a stroke, if she would have seen some of those outfits,' he mused smiling lightly at the memory of his friend. 'Even though,' he grinned inwardly, 'she would have been able to pull them off, no problem.'

Harry had never been interested in Hermione other than as the friend she always had been to him, so he usually didn't think along these lines about her – without taking into consideration that Ron would have killed him on the spot if he would have. But nonetheless Harry had to admit that Hermione had developed into a stunningly beautiful young witch, as even the Slytherins had been caught, checking her out. During their last year her curves had smoothed themselves out and since Ron had begun carrying most of the books, which used to weigh her down, her posture had straightened too. She had elegant features and even her hair seemed to have given up its bushiness – or she had finally found a way to tame it.

Therefore Hermione Granger had been one of the most coveted females at Hogwarts, even though she was wearing school robes, which in Harry's mind weren't exactly the most advantageous clothes for a young woman's body. So when he pictured some of the outfits he had seen in those clubs onto her, the results were prohibitive, to say the least, and Ron would have probably been torn between the urge to jump her on the spot, and the one to hide her in the next best closet – where he could have jumped her in all due peace.

Smiling at the mental picture Harry walked down Magnolia Crescent to the little park, he used to spend time after school when he was little, dreading the return to his guardians' house and enjoying the short periods of peace, when neither his aunt nor uncle, nor his cousin Dudley would bother him.

'Speaking of which,' he mused as he sat down on one of the swings in the now deserted park. 'Dudley has been very strange lately… In fact he has been strange since last summer, when you think of it,' Harry's thoughts ground forward, while he began to swing absentmindedly.

And in fact, Harry realized, his cousin had changed quite a lot in the past two years both physically and in his attitude; changes which Harry couldn't fathom and, if he wanted to be completely honest, scared him a bit.

First of all Dudley had stopped harassing Harry in any way, but not by avoiding him like Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia and not in the cowardly frightened way he had done during the years after Harry's admission at Hogwarts, when he had been terrified of what Harry could have done to him with his magic. On the contrary, Dudley had become the only bearable person in the Dursley household, since he greeted Harry with a short nod whenever he saw him and behaved completely at ease around him, even though they hadn't exchanged more than the incidental "Hello" now and then.

'No, actually,' Harry interrupted his thoughts as an occurrence came back to him, that had happened only a few weeks ago: he had come by Dudley's room, while he was strolling aimlessly around the house, and had found him studying, which in itself was a puzzling fact worthy to be remembered in legends. But when Harry had entered the room and asked him, if he could use his computer, Dudley had just raised his head for a second and had mumbled, "Yeah, sure," before he had resumed his work.

Harry had been rooted to the spot for a full minute, before his brain had finally processed the message. He had never expected Dudley to answer anything else than, "No, not ever, you freak of nature," and had, if he was completely honest with himself, only asked the question to annoy Dudley a little bit.

When he had gathered himself enough to retaliate he had asked Dudley with mock concern, "Dudley, are you sure you're not sick or something?"

To that Dudley had simply sat up and had said in a voice dripping with annoyance, "No, Harry. I'm quite well, thank you. So you either help yourself at the computer, or you leave me alone, since I still got some work to do." And with that he had returned to his studies, without so much as a backwards glance at Harry, who – after some more staring at his cousin – had retreated in confusion from Dudley's bedroom and returned to his own, realising that he had in fact thrown his only chance in years to have a go at Dudley's computer out the window because of his stupid reaction.

Harry observed the world, while it was teetering up and down in front of his eyes and felt his good mood slip away somewhat.

'Am I becoming like them?' he thought, putting his feet down on the earth, thus putting a grinding halt to his swinging. 'Am I becoming a bigot, like the Dursleys? I mean, ok… they made my life hell for most of my childhood and Dudley was the cell keeper, but he hasn't done anything to me for two years.' Harry got up from the swing and began to walk, like he always did, when he was thinking about uncomfortable matters.

'He allowed me for the first time, to use his stuff – if Aunt Petunia knew about it, she would flip – and I mocked him about it. I threw it in his face…' Harry dug his hands deep into his pockets, as a frown worked its way onto his features.

'But why?' he mused. 'Why would Dudley suddenly start being nice to me? What happened that changed his mind about me? His parents have nothing to do with it, sure enough, and I guess his friends would still rather beat me into a pulp than speak to me, so what is it?'

Then it hit Harry like a train.

'The dementor,' he thought with an icy chill running down his spine. He remembered that awful sensation, like death itself would stretch its clammy hands toward you every time a dementor was nearby. And Dudley had nearly been kissed by one of those monsters! So Harry could only imagine how Dudley must have felt then. He remembered that Dudley wouldn't eat anything for days after the incident and he had heard rumours that his cousin had completely cut every relationship with his gang although he hadn't believed it then.

They weren't dumb enough to get on his wrong side of course, because they were still afraid of him. Dudley was still the largest and strongest guy in their entire neighbourhood after all and the years of disciplined training and hard work were visible in every inch of bulging muscles; Dudley had become a real athlete towering an entire foot over and weighing at least twice as much as Harry did, his shape clearly defined now that all the fat from his childhood was gone. But any unlucky chap that would have thought him slow, would have regretted his mistake soon enough: Harry himself had struggled to believe what he had seen in one of the tapes of Dudley's championship fights, when his cousin had literally danced circles around his adversary. But nonetheless Pierce, who had become gang leader, and his cronies had been seen now and then around Privet Drive glaring at Number 4, probably because they still resented Dudley for leaving; especially after last summer, when one of them had been sentenced to six months in juvenile hall for breaking and entering.

Harry's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud growl coming from his midriff and he sighed slightly, when he looked down to his stomach. Part of the game his aunt and uncle were playing was to give him only cold leftovers while he was in their house, but luckily Harry had stopped by Gringotts right after the train had arrived, and had changed a little amount of Galleons into Muggle currency, which he kept hidden from Dursley-view at the bottom of his trunk. So this whole summer he had been able to eat at different restaurants and diners, allowing him for the first time in his life, to try out other cuisines than the British one: he had experimented with Chinese, Indian, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Mexican and even French dishes in a wide variety of tastes and smells, which he had to admit where very to his liking.

And since today he was in the mood for something spicy he walked out of the park and directed his steps on Marguerite's Lane towards Garden Road, where a little Indian restaurant, which made Uncle Vernon rant on and on about strangers infesting our culture and stealing away jobs from honest, hard working citizens, had opened a few years back. Those empty tirades always made Harry more than a bit angry, but he had decided not to say anything so as to preserve the little peace and freedom he had. He had though noticed that whenever Uncle Vernon started with one of these lectures again, Dudley threw him short glares, quickly looking back to his plate though, before anyone could see him.

And again Harry found himself thinking about his cousin, while he entered the Krishna, where Mr Kulkarni greeted him cordially, before bringing him to his usual table while exchanging some pleasantries. Harry mulled a little over the menu, before ordering his favourite dish and some water to go with it.

He liked the food he received at Hogwarts, but he had never been able to completely get used to the consumption of pumpkin juice during meals, so when he was away from school he preferred plain old tap-water while eating. And when Mr Kulkarni brought him his steaming cup of Chicken Korma, Harry forgot about his cousin and Voldemort and everything that was not his food for a bit, while he tucked in.

So when he looked out the window a few minutes later, without a care in the world, he nearly chocked violently as he saw his cousin of all the people walk by it with a very pretty girl at his arm.

Harry had to give his cousin credit for his taste in women, as he watched them walk by the window and Dudley open the door for her. She had dark, long hair, which she collected in a smooth ponytail at the base of her head and a thin face with a long, straight nose. The radiant smile drawn on her full lips filled her dark brown eyes with a warm, pleasant light. She was smaller than Harry, which meant that she just reached Dudley's chin, but Harry didn't have the impression that she was oppressed by his huge figure; on the contrary her presence nearly filled the entire room and Harry had the distinct feeling that his usually egoistic cousin was positively enjoying the attention, that his girlfriend got, effectively giving her the precedence.

They walked across the restaurant, her arm hooked into his, and stopped in front of Mr Kulkarni, who gave the girl a kiss on the cheek and shook hands with Dudley, who seemed to radiate joy out of every pore up to the tips of his short, blond hair.

Harry, who had been overlooked by his cousin, because he had been covered by other customers while the couple was entering, stood from his table and walked over to Dudley, who was at the moment obviously giving Mr Kulkarni a recount of the afternoon, as the little man stood before him with crossed arms and a light frown on his face, while the girl nodded now and then smiling alternately at her father and her escort.

"Hey, Dudley," Harry suddenly said to the back of his cousin, who nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of his voice and turned around to face him with pure panic written all over his rough features. He blinked once, then twice, obviously trying to say something, but failing miserably at collecting enough of his mind to set it to the task at hand. When his girlfriend spoke to him he nearly winced before looking to her with wide eyes.

"Don't you want to introduce us, Dudley," she said with a tone somewhere between sweet and scolding, as if she was used to remember things for him. Dudley looked a few times back and forth between her and Harry, obviously lost for words, when Harry decided to step in for him.

"My name is Harry Potter," he said with a smile, while stretching his hand towards her. That finally seemed to rip Dudley out of his daze and he straightened himself clearing his throat, before he said, "Ahh, yes. This is my cousin Harry Potter, and this is Peeya Kulkarni."

"A pleasure," she said smiling, while she shook Harry's hand with a pleasantly soft grip.

"The pleasure's mine," he replied and flashed her a short smile. After an instant of silence, he ploughed on.

"Dudley hasn't mentioned to me, that he had a girlfriend. And such a beautiful one at that." She giggled at that and nodded shortly in recognition of his compliment.

"Well neither has he mentioned, that his cousin was visiting," she said and both of them turned to Dudley, who stiffened somewhat before he brought his hands up defensively and said, "Sorry?" Peeya smiled warmly at him and stroked his cheek softly before she said soothingly, "It's ok, dear. I'm sure you just forgot to tell me."

"Actually," Harry burst out in a sudden urge to come to his cousin's aid and stepped up to Dudley thumping him on the back. "He didn't know I was coming. I just arrived from Scotland and was planning on surprising him this evening, when he came home. We haven't seen each other for quite some time now, and I just wanted to make my visit a lasting one, you know?" he added by means of an explanation, throwing an apologetic look at a smiling and retreating Mr Kulkarni, who perfectly knew that Harry had been around for the better part of two weeks now.

"Oh, that's nice," she said and flashed Dudley a smile, which he returned shyly and as soon as Peeya wasn't looking at him anymore, he mouthed a "Thank you" at Harry.

Harry winked back and said, "And what a coincidence that I end up right into this exact restaurant, don't you think?"

As she smiled at him again, Harry stepped aside a bit, giving way to his table and added, "Don't you want to join me? I was just finishing up, and I would love to know, what my cousin's been up to, since I last saw him, and why he felt the need to keep you all to himself." Peeya accepted with a short nod and they sat down at the table together.

Half an hour later Harry had found out, that Dudley had been seeing Peeya for a little more than a year now and that the two of them had met over tutoring sessions for Dudley, who in the middle of his fifth year had slipped so much on his grades, that he had risked expulsion from the boxing team at school. So the teacher had proposed a tutor to him and had recommended Peeya, who had been top student in the parallel class.

"At the beginning," she giggled, "he was absolutely obnoxious and wouldn't open a book to save his life. But then I pounded some sense into his thick skull and it turned out that he can very well do it, if he puts some effort into it."

"I wasn't that bad," Dudley mumbled, looking at her reproachfully, but she just gave him an affectionate peck on the cheek.

"Well, darling, I wasn't the one thinking sine and cosine were ways to explain sudden weather changes," she said cocking her head a little to the side, and flashing him a disarming smile, which made Dudley's ears turn a deep shade of purple. Harry, who had no idea what a sine was either, just nodded and smiled sympathetically at his cousin's reaction.

Suddenly they were interrupted by Peeya's father, who leaned over the counter and called her, tipping slightly at the watch on his wrist, "Peeya, it's time."

"Oh," she exclaimed jumping to her feet. "I'm sorry, Harry. I guess we'll have to resume this another time, I'm afraid," she said with an excusatory nod, but Harry shook his head smiling and waving his hand dismissively.

"Of course, I understand," he said softly. "I was thinking about leaving anyway, since I'm quite beat from the voyage by train and all that. So don't let me stop you."

She smiled at him sweetly, and said, "Thank you. It's been a pleasure meeting you."

"The pleasure's been entirely mine," he replied and shook her hand, before he paid the bill, leaving quite an extensive tip and making his way towards the door. When he dropped his hand on the knob, he turned around a moment and said, "Wait for you outside, Dud."

The fresh breeze in his face announced the fading evening and Harry buried his hands in his pockets again, while watching the red and purple colours flee the sky to slowly make space for the dark blue of the night.

'So this is the big secret behind Dudley's change: a girl.' Harry chuckled. 'Who would have thought!' he mused, while breathing in the slightly chilly air. When he heard the door behind him open and close again he turned around, to find his cousin looking at him in a mixture of tiredness and defeat and the both of them started walking without so much as a word of consent between them.

"I like her," Harry started, smiling at his cousin and strolling down Garden Road towards Marguerite's Lane. "She's funny and cute and the two of you are a very nice couple."

Dudley mumbled a, "Thank you," out of the corner of his mouth, avoiding Harry's gaze and looking quite uncomfortable. Harry frowned a little, but his curiosity won over his sense of decency.

"I also think she is very bright," he ploughed on trying to make a little conversation.

"Yeah," was Dudley's monosyllabic answer and Harry's frown deepened. What was wrong with Dudley? He had made a very happy impression on Harry, when he walked into the restaurant with his girlfriend, and even though Mr Kulkarni had seemed a little on the edge – as every father of the universe probably was, when his daughter started to date a boy – Harry had received the distinct impression of him being rather fond of Dudley as his daughter's boyfriend. Plus, after talking to her, Harry was convinced that this girl wasn't only very pretty on the outside, but that she could have definitely given Hermione a run for her money. Not to mention that everyone who could melt Dudley like she had done, merited at least a Nobel Peace Prize.

So what was wrong now, with Dudley being all ashamed and dodgy about her? He should have been on his knees, kissing the floor she had walked on, for Christ's sake, and he hadn't more than one word sentences to contribute to her. But Harry didn't want to surrender the argument so quickly and he wanted to cheer his cousin up a little, so he dug his hands deeper into his pockets and said lightly, "I'm sure Aunt Petunia would like to get to know her and maybe…"

His voice trailed off, as he realized that Dudley had suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. When Harry turned around to face him, Dudley's features were unreadable, but his eyes were looking daggers at him.

"Harry…" he began and stopped immediately. He tried to start a few times over, until he finally said, "You can't tell Mum and Dad."

Harry was dumbfounded for a second, while he stared at his cousin, who seemed more determined than Harry had ever seen him.

"But…" he started, before Dudley cut him off instantly.

"Promise me!"

"But why," Harry finally said, pulling himself together. "She's smart, she's funny and she obviously likes you a lot, so what's the matter with you?" At that, his cousin exploded.

"She's black, Harry!" he shouted at him, throwing his arms upwards.

"Well, technically she's Indian, so her skin colour isn't exactly black," he frowned at him accusingly, feeling a little surge of anger rise inside of him at such an Uncle Vernon-ish argument, but Dudley interrupted him again gesturing wildly with his thick arms.

"I know that, man. But geez, don't you get it? For Mum and Dad everything south of the Channel is Africa and you know how they are with everything that's not 'properly British'," he finished, literally collapsing on a nearby bench.

"I just don't want to see her get hurt," he said despairingly, sinking his head into his hands.

Harry mentally smacked himself over the head with a golf-club: how could he have been so stupid as to not recognize the precarious situation his cousin was in.

For everyone even remotely counting as normal Peeya must have appeared like a revelation from heaven to someone with a past like Dudley's, but Harry agreed with his cousin, that if the Dursleys should have ever discovered who Dudley's girlfriend really was, they would have moved heaven and earth to put a permanent stop to their relationship. Harry knew exactly how Uncle Vernon could get if someone made the mistake to let him get started on foreigners and people, who's only crime was to not have been born as 'proper' British citizens.

He shuddered slightly at the thought of Peeya's first visit at the 'Dursley Manor'.

"Do you love her, Dudley?" he asked directly, his voice cautious and soft, so only his cousin could hear him, even though the street was now completely deserted.

Dudley nodded slightly, gazing fixedly into empty space, and, in a sudden urge to comfort his cousin, Harry stepped up to him and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm not gonna tell, Dudley," he said smiling reassuringly at the sunken figure. "I promise."

At that Dudley looked up with surprise painted all over his face. Like a fish he opened and closed his mouth a few times mutely before he murmured, "You're not gonna…"

"…tell. No!" assured Harry with another slight squeeze of Dudley's shoulder, before straightening up and crossing his arms over his chest.

"But… but… after all I did to you, when we were…" Harry cut him off with an impatient wave of his hand.

"Ancient history, Dud. And besides, I have the feeling, that you're not going to have much liberty to screw around with her watching over you, now do you?" he grinned, sinking his hands back into his pockets again.

At that Dudley grinned back and said, "Well you're right concerning the fooling around, but concerning the screwing…" Harry nearly fell over.

"You… you didn't!" he stammered, his jaw hanging in the proximity of his knees. "Or did you?"

"I'm not saying anything," Dudley said, standing up from the bench with a hint of the old evil grin back on his face. "Gentlemen and all that, you know?" Harry actually needed a few seconds to recollect himself after this statement, but then a grin spread on his face as well.

"Yeah, right! Since when do you know what a gentleman is or does, Dud." And he whacked his cousin over his massive shoulder.

"I guess I deserved that," Dudley chuckled and fell silent for a few steps, while they reached Marguerite's Lane. After a few more moments of silence, he continued.

"But honestly, Harry. I'm sorry…" his voice trailed off and Harry couldn't do anything else than smile at him and reply, "But honestly, Dud. It's ok." Then he breathed one gasp of the fresh evening's air and turned his gaze back to his cousin.

"There is one thing though, you could do, to make it up to me, you know?"

"What?" asked Dudley eying him up and down suspiciously.

"You could tell me some more about what you've been up to in these past two years."

The rest of their stroll home was used up almost entirely by Dudley's recount of what had happened since that fateful evening before Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts. How Dudley had fallen into depressions and had finally been saved by a girl, he was absolutely positive couldn't even stand him in the beginning of their relationship.

"So," Dudley finished a few minutes later, while they turned into Magnolia Crescent, "after I took a knee in front of her, with the whole school watching, and asked her out, she stood there for a moment, you know, and then she simply said, 'Yes'. But, boy, I have to tell you that for a second there I thought she was going to bite my head off." Harry chuckled and replied, "With such a charming introduction, how could she?"

"Yeah," Dudley grinned for a second, before his expression faded away so quickly, as if a light-bulb had burned out. In that respect he was irritatingly similar to his father, Harry thought, before pushing the thought aside, to listen to what would come next. The silence stretched a few more seconds, before Dudley ruptured it again.

"Harry… I have to know… I mean, if you can't tell me, I'll understand, but I have to ask you what… what these…"

"What it was, that attacked us that night," Harry finished, looking his cousin straight in the face. He had dreaded this question and now that Dudley had posed it, he strangely knew exactly what to say.

"Those creatures are called dementors, and until one and a half years ago they were the guards of the wizard prison of Azkaban," he said, an almost icy tone creeping into his voice. "They feed of positive human emotions, essentially leaving you with nothing but your worst memories."

Dudley's massive frame gave a short shudder, before he almost whispered, "And what was it about that kiss?"

Harry was shaken to find out that his cousin had been able to retain that piece of information even if he was in such a bad shape that night. But he also knew that now was the moment to come clean with his cousin, independently on his possible reaction.

Harry steadied himself before he said, "That would be the dementor's kiss, Dudley. It's their last weapon, the worst thing that could happen to you: with his kiss, a dementor sucks your soul out of your mouth. All that's left is an empty husk, that lives, but that's not truly alive." When he said the last phrase, Harry couldn't look his cousin in the eyes anymore and lowered his gaze to his shoes.

He felt guilty about what had happened to Dudley. Another innocent bystander hurt, just because he happened to be around him, when yet another one of Harry's many enemies decided that it was time for a little party. When a big hand came down on his shoulder and squeezed it gently, Harry almost cringed away from the contact.

"It's ok, Harry. It was not your fault," Dudley said with the hint of a smile playing around his mouth.

"But it was," Harry retorted, looking his cousin in the eyes. "They had specifically been sent to kill me. You were just…" But Dudley cut him off with an impatient wave of his hand.

"No, Harry. It wasn't your fault. It was the fault of the one sending those monstrosities." He straightened himself, before continuing with a voice that seemed to be carved out of ice. "It's always those people, who do these things and then push the responsibility on top of someone else, because they're too weak to stomach it themselves."

Harry looked at Dudley with a tired smile on his face.

"Dudley… I'm impressed. Since when have you become so wise?" Dudley grinned at that.

"I haven't. Peeya said that to me once… before she actually ripped my head off and used my skull as a bowling ball, because I had been a jerk to some second-years again," he added chuckling under his breath.

"But honestly, Harry. I think that that night's been the best thing that's ever happened to me." This took Harry completely by surprise, and before he could stop himself he asked, "What… Why?"

Dudley looked to the ground and shuffled his feet around for a moment or two. Having realised what he had said, Harry immediately added, "I'm sorry, Dudley. You don't need to tell me, if you don't want to. I'm just being stupid and…"

"No," Dudley interrupted with a steady voice, which admitted no argument about what he was going to say next. "You deserve to know." Both Harry and his cousin took a deep breath, before Dudley went on with the slightest wave of insecurity in his voice.

"At first there was only darkness and a chill that went right into my bones." Harry nodded at that: he knew the effects of a dementor attack all too well, but he kept his mouth shut and urged Dudley with a nod to go on.

"Then I suddenly stood on top of a mountain," Dudley recounted, his eyes wandering to empty space, seemingly staring into distance. "It was actually a moment before I realised the mountain was made up of human bodies, who were screaming and begging for mercy. I looked down and recognized them. I recognized every one of them." His voice broke at that and he had to breathe deeply, but when he continued, his tone was ripe with resolve, as if he wanted to get a weight off his shoulders he had been carrying around all too long.

"Everyone I ever bullied or beat up was there, Harry. They were all there, screaming and crying and I had to watch myself beat them over and over and over again. I couldn't stop it and I couldn't look away either. Every hit they took, I felt and every insult they endured, I heard. And I knew it was my fault… That I was alone and would be alone for the rest of my life and that I had no one to thank for, except myself."

"So that's what turned you around?" Harry stated calmly with his hands buried in his pockets.

Dudley nodded slightly.

"Yes. Or at least, that's what started it. At first I became almost twice as bad; just to take my self-loathing out on someone else. It took Peeya almost three months of continuous arse-kicking, to get me on the right track again. Sometimes I still wonder why she actually invested all that much in me. At the time I was on the best way to take a one way trip to juvie like Malcolm."

"Well," Harry smiled widely at his cousin, as they resumed their way home. "I guess she saw something in you that even you didn't realize was there. Not that I can see it even now," he added with a grin and they both laughed at that.

"Say, Harry," Dudley asked suddenly serious again. "These dementors, what do they look like exactly?" Harry looked back at his cousin in surprise and said, "Well they wear long black cloaks all over their body and their moves are kind of creepy, like they were gliding over the ground all the time. Why?"

"Because, speaking of creepy figures in black cloaks, do these guys belong to you, or should I be concerned?" Dudley responded indicating ahead of them and when Harry saw what he was pointing at, his steps immediately froze and his hand grabbed his cousin's arm, pushing him into the shadow of Number 18's open garage.

Around the tree standing exactly opposite Privet Drive Number 4 two dark clad figures wearing masks over their faces, whom Harry immediately recognized as Death Eaters, were trying to blend with the shadows surrounding them as the Martins were on vacation and no light was coming from Number 3 right now. However, they had not compensated for the fact that nights in the Muggle world were very rarely pitch black, and their inky cloaks stood out from their environment just a bit. Harry had to compliment his cousin for his eyesight, as he probably would have not been able to spot them in time.

"I guess, I should be concerned then?" Dudley's voice brought him back to his senses. "Who're those guys anyway?"

"Long story, Dud. You just need to know, that you should make as long a way around them, as you possibly can."

"Dark wizards, I take it?"

"Yeh," Harry nodded. "As dark as they come."

"So what do they want here?" Dudley whispered, while looking around, to see if there was any more of them.

"They want me," Harry said sourly.

"I get that, but why now?" Dudley retorted, looking at Harry, as he was incapable to spot any more dark cloaks in the shadows.

"I don't know, Dud," Harry shook his head slightly. "The Headmaster of my school, Dumbledore, has set up some pretty strong wards around your house, so until now the Death Eaters were never able to find me here, much less attack me."

"Death Eaters?" Dudley raised his brows. "How flattering."

"Yeah," Harry grinned at his cousin shortly, before returning his gaze to the two figures at Number 3. "I guess, they've finally found a way around Dumbledore's magic, but since they are still standing outside, I suppose they are either still not allowed inside the house, or they know, I'm not home and they are waiting to intercept me outside." Then he suddenly turned around and spoke directly to Dudley.

"Do you have any means to find out, if your parents are all right and if it's safe inside the house?"

"Sure," Dudley answered grabbing something inside his jacket. "Dad just bought this cell for me and gave it to me, my last birthday. At least once one of his presents will be useful," he grinned, while he typed his parent's phone-number in the tiny device.

"Hay, mum, it's me… is Dad home? Yes… And are you both ok? No, nothing to worry about. I'm on my way home… Yes… No… I'll be right there. Ok… Bye!" He snapped the little cell-phone closed and replaced it back into his jacket. "Everyone's all right in there," he said. "They don't seem to have noticed anything."

"Good!" Harry said with a decisive nod.

"So what do we do now?" Dudley asked, letting his gaze wander around again for a few seconds before fixing it on his cousin.

"We?" Harry asked and turned around to face Dudley directly. "Since when do you fight my fights, Dudley Dursley?"

"Since you know about Peeya and thus have my life in your hands," replied Dudley with a grin.

"Dudley, I would never…" Harry began, but was almost immediately cut off by his cousin, who put a hand on his mouth and looked back to the men under the tree in alarm, before he whispered, "I know, I know. And could you please talk a little louder. I think they haven't heard you over in York."

"Sorry," murmured Harry and gazed back to the street as he settled himself to a kneeling position. Dudley followed swiftly.

"I don't see any more than those two," he began. "But that makes me nervous. They usually come in packs. I'm almost sure, that they have at least a couple of men guarding the rear and everything except my wand's in the house," he mused. "So we can't take 'em head on."

"Can't you just teleport into the house, or something?" asked Dudley with a frown.

"It's called Apparation, Dudley," Harry corrected. "And, no, I can't Apparate, because they probably have some wards in place that either prevent any Apparation or warn them, if someone tries."

'Not to mention,' he thought by himself, 'that I haven't taken the exam yet.'

"I guess you have to somehow contact your people," Dudley thought aloud. "Can't you write them a letter with your owl, or something?"

"No. Hedwig is hunting at this time of night and it would take her too long to get to somebody useful… but wait," Harry exclaimed suddenly. "I have a mirror, with which I can talk instantly to a friend of mine. The problem is that it's in my trunk and they'll fry us the moment we show our faces in front of the house."

"Hold on, Harry," Dudley grinned at him. "They'll fry you. I'm just your stupid Muggle-cousin, remember? And since they haven't attacked the house yet, I guess it's safe for me to enter and get to this mirror of yours."

"That's one hell of an assumption, Dudley," Harry said with a frown. "These people kill Muggles for sports… and since when do you know what a Muggle is?"

Dudley just arched an eyebrow and turned around, pointing at his lower back. "You tend to remember certain things, especially when a giant with a pink umbrella attaches a tail to your arse," he said dryly, before kneeling back down and surveying the street again.

"What do you think is the area of effect of an – how did you call it – Apparation-ward?" Harry took a pensive expression for a few seconds, before he said, "Accounting for the fact that they couldn't have had much time to set them up, I guess half a mile at best, why?"

"Because then here is what we're gonna do, cousin." Dudley crouched down some more and began to talk in an urgent whisper. "I'm going inside and use that mirror of yours to call in the reinforcements. You meanwhile go to the park and get low there, while you wait for your guys. I'm going to pack all your stuff in one of my suitcases…"

"Why in one of your suitcases?" Harry interrupted.

"Because," Dudley answered a little irritated, "it's much more inconspicuous. I would recognize your trunk three miles away during a foggy day."

"Oh," said Harry a little dumbfounded. Peeya definitely seemed to have a good influence over much more than only his cousin's attitude.

"Yeah. Well, when I've finished packing your trunk and informing your guys, I'm coming to the park too and give you your stuff and you can be on your way, before these Death Chewers…"

"Eaters."

"Whatever… before they can even get a glimpse at you."

"Wow, that's actually a quite clever plan, Dud. Have you rehearsed for this?" Harry grinned at his cousin. Dudley frowned for a second, but returned the grin only a moment later.

"Don't make me regret that I'm helping you," he said with a low growl, but the glint in his eyes belied his harsh tone.

"Ok," Harry said with a smile of his own. "The mirror's in my trunk. To use it, you just hold it in front of you and speak into it like that girl did in that movie."

"Like that girl did in that movie?" Dudley frowned at him. "Seriously, cousin, you are lacking some major pop culture references, but I get you. Now go and keep your head down."

And with a last nod Harry ducked out of the garage and snuck back to the street, where he crouched low and began to make his way to the park. He looked back over his shoulder once, to see his cousin strolling, seemingly without a care in the world, down the street to his house.

Harry just hoped that Dudley's assumptions were correct and that his cousin would in fact make it inside undisturbed.

Ten minutes later Harry was pacing up and down in front of the scarcely lit swings in the park. He wasn't chewing on his nails, but only because he had given up on that half a year ago. He wondered though where all the bigger stones around the swings had gone, before he remembered that he must have kicked each and every one of them away in exasperation.

What was taking the Order so long? If Dudley had contacted Remus as soon as he had gotten home, they should have been here by now.

Again Harry thanked every god within earshot for Remus' idea to restore his mirror, since the werewolf had found its counterpart in Sirius' room at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. They had used it throughout the entire last year as Remus had explicitly told Harry to call him whenever he felt like talking. And to be entirely honest, Harry had felt like that a lot, even if he had only taken the werewolf up on his offer when he felt that he would explode, if he wouldn't talk to somebody soon.

Now though Dudley would be able to contact the Order through it and with a little luck and God's help Harry would escape Voldemort's grasp once more, without even the necessity to fight.

'Damn you, Potter!' he kicked himself mentally, as he suddenly heard the scraping noise of shoes on gravel and turned around to see three dark clad figures melt out of the shadows. 'You just had to think that, didn't you.'

"Well, well, well… what have we here?" one of the Death Eaters sneered, while taking a few steps forward. "The little Potter boy, who thinks he can escape us by hiding here."

Harry took the few moments given him by the seemingly universal fault of bad guys to talk too much, and scanned his surroundings for cover and other useful ground features. He had though little luck as the only structure in a radius of five meters was the swing-frame, which offered little to no protection against incoming spells. There was though a stone bench a little to his right that looked solid enough to take most Reducto and Stupefy curses. The only problem was in reaching it, but if he was able to create a shield quickly enough, he might had a fighting chance.

Harry narrowed his eyes and focused back on the Death Eater, who was still blabbing something about terrible deaths and very satisfied Dark Lords. But he would never finish his ranting, as Harry had his wand in hand before anyone of the masked figures could react.

"Protego!" he shouted and took a few running steps towards the bench, before he dove head first behind it. He heard a few Stupefy and Impedimenta shouts in the night and felt his wand twitch and buckle up in his grasp, as the spells hit his shield. He landed face down in the grass surrounding the bench and lost no time in scrambling to a sitting position, pressing his back to the cold and solid stone.

He heard the curses strike and splinter his cover, but the bench held its ground, so Harry could catch a quick gasp of air, before daring a glance at his attackers. He peeked around the bench and saw two more figures coming out of the shadows, bringing the total of his attackers to five. Their leader was already bellowing orders in a rasp voice, while Harry thought frantically what to do next.

The Death Eaters had begun to spread out, trying to surround him and Harry realized that he could do nothing but watch: he could have run for it, but the second he left his position they would pummel him with curses like there was no tomorrow, and the next cover was more than thirty meters away. So he couldn't hope to make a flight and stand his ground was almost as good as suicide.

But Harry James Potter hadn't survived four encounters with the Dark Lord himself because he surrendered in desperate situations. So, forcing his heart to calm down and taking a few deep breaths to clear his head, which was positively humming with adrenaline, he prepared himself to fight.

As one of the Death Eaters, who were trying to go around the bench, walked past a small boulder, Harry directed his wand at the stone and screwed his face up in concentration. This was going to be a difficult piece of magic and as Professor McGonagall always used to say, transfiguration wasn't something you could do with your mind on your dinner.

He took aim carefully, flicked his wand in a complicated twist and muttered the incantation under his breath. The boulder melted away into an unshaped blob, which though quickly changed its colour from grey to black, stretched a little and began to sprout tentacles, which formed quickly four legs, a head and a tail. Seconds later a fully fledged and very aggressive dog jumped the unwary Death Eater and sunk his teeth deep into the screaming man's arm. With a slightly malicious grin Harry observed the dark clad figure for a few seconds, who was desperately trying to get away from the animal, before he turned his gaze to the other side, where another Death Eater was just coming into view.

Harry pointed his wand directly at his face and yelled, "Incendio!" The Death Eater's mask immediately erupted into flames and the man, who had already his wand at the ready, dropped it and clasped his face staggering back several steps. He clawed desperately at the garment in the attempt to rip it away, while his screams echoed muffled through the night.

Harry was already beginning to gather some hope, as the bench suddenly gave way to the continuous bombardment of curses and collapsed with a loud crack.

Harry staggered to his feet and stepped back, his wand warily outstretched before him, ready to deflect any spell coming his way immediately. The leader faced his colleague, who was still fighting with the now raging dog and shot something purple at it, that made the animal fly away several meters and land with a sickening crunch of breaking bones against the frame of the swings. The man stumbled to his feet and the last Death Eater finally ripped the mask off his face, turning his furious glare at Harry.

"You ruined my face!" he screamed, his voice shrill and broken by rage. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" The man's wand shot back to his hand and Harry prepared himself for his last fight, determined to take as many of them down with him, as he could.

But suddenly a bright orange flash exploded behind the man, hurling him forward so that he smashed into the ground only a few steps away from Harry's feet and a growling voice came from the shadows.

"Or you might as well not," said Alastor Moody with a grin that seemed to be slashing his scarred face in two. Behind him Tonks and Remus fanned out and lost no time in engaging the remaining Death Eaters in one on one duels.

Harry immediately sprang into action, facing the leader head on and soon everyone was entangled in furious duels, during which curses and counter-spells where exchanged so quickly, that the wands were sputtering sparks even in between incantations.

Harry dodged a spell, blocked another one and then went to counter-attack. He shot a quick volley of stunners at his enemy and while he was occupied with blocking them, Harry got to his knees and shot a leg-lock jinx under the Death Eaters defence. The man staggered and swayed, but kept his balance and responded by shouting, "Tempesta Glacialis!" An entire swarm of razor-sharp ice crystals shot towards Harry, who quickly summoned a shield. He was though not quick enough and his cheeks were sliced open what felt a thousand times and only seconds later his chin was dripping in thick, red blood. But Harry pushed the needle-sharp pain from his conscious thoughts and focussed his attention to the slits in his adversary's mask, before shouting, "Mobilicorpus!"

Immediately the elbows and hands of the Death Eater snapped into a very puppet-like position, which would probably have been funny in another circumstance, but the man just shouted, "Finite!" and his wand was outstretched in front of him within seconds… which was more than enough time for Harry to place a few well-aimed stunners directly into the man's face.

The Death Eater keeled over like an axed tree and before the dark clad figure could even properly settle itself to the ground he was disarmed and tied up like a salami.

Harry turned his gaze from his prisoner, and saw that Remus was dragging his adversary by his hood over to where Tonks was sitting, legs crossed, on her own. Moody quickly finished off the last Death Eater with a quite impressive partial levitation that turned the man upside down by his ankles and swung him around two or three times, before letting him crash down on to the rubble-covered ground. He grinned broadly again and tucked his wand away rounding on Harry.

"You all right, lad?" he asked Harry in his usual growling voice, while he settled one of his scarred hands on Harry's shoulder and giving the boy in front of him a short glance up an down, to see if he was injured. His eyes immediately stopped at Harry's cheeks, which were still streaming quite some blood down his chin, staining his shirt.

"Hey, Tonks!" he shouted over at the today green-haired witch, who was still sitting on top of her Death Eater as if he were a log of wood. "Come over here. Your type's required."

Tonks, who had been observing Lupin while he was transfiguring the wailing dog at the swings back to a boulder, looked over to the older Auror and immediately jumped to her feet when she saw Harry. She actually was so eager to reach the pair that she tripped and scrambled a few steps, before catching herself again.

Harry threw Moody a concerned look that said, 'Are you sure, she's not going to accidentally set me on fire?' but the old Auror just chuckled under his breath and winked at him with his good eye.

When Tonks reached him, she immediately started huffing over him with a preoccupied expression on her usually cheerful features.

"Oh, God, Harry," she bubbled away, "what did he do to you?"

"It was some kind of ice-spell, I guess," he said nonchalantly, as he was feeling almost no pain at all. He was though beginning to feel a little dizzy, to be completely honest, probably from the adrenaline withdrawal. Tonks moved his head expertly to one side and to the other, to examine the cuts and finally stepped back with a reassuring smile on her lips.

"I don't think it's poisoned or something, so a simple regeneration charm should do the trick," she said and drew her wand from a strap at the leg. She flicked it, drawing a complicated design into the air and muttered, "Carnem Regeneratiam!" Harry immediately felt the stinging in his cheeks rise and for a moment he was concerned, that Tonks had made a mistake in the incantation, but soon the pain transformed into a pleasant tickling and only seconds later Harry touched his perfectly intact face again.

"Now that's better, isn't it?" she said jovially, before looking down with a frown at his bloodstained shirt. "But we can't let you walk around like that now, can we. They'll think you've murdered someone," she added with a grin before muttering, "Evanesco!" Instantly the whole blood disappeared, leaving the merest hint of a shadow on Harry's white shirt.

"Thanks," he smiled at her, looking up after having checked the result of her spell.

"All included in the service," she winked back, "Though I'm afraid that the stain is going to stay. Blood is such a bitch to wash away. You might want to try Mrs Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess-Remover to get it out, but else than that, I can't think of anything to…"

"It's ok, Tonks," he interrupted her fiddling. "I'm just grateful that I'm not going to die of blood-loss. Everything else is not that important. Thanks," he finally said giving the little witch a short hug. Tonks became instantly tomato-red, which contrasted horribly with her green hair, but smiled back at him and pulled herself together only after a few seconds.

"Don't embarrass Tonks too much, Harry," chuckled Lupin, while walking over, where they all stood. "She's just over the crush on you." This earned him a sound punch in the shoulder from Tonks, who was now looking daggers at him. Lupin though seemed very unfazed by it, flashing her a very charming smile and, to Harry's amusement, she smiled back at the scruffy looking werewolf.

"So," said Lupin suddenly rounding on Harry and dropping all cheeriness, "care to explain, what happened? I suddenly receive this weird message from this blond boy, through a mirror only you are supposed to know about, and he tells me that Death Eaters are in front of your doorstep and that you're waiting for pickup at the park near your uncle and aunt's house."

"Well," said Harry with a shrug, "he seems to have explained everything pretty well then, hasn't he."

"Yes, but Death Eaters are not supposed to be able to find you, when you're here in Surrey. Dumbledore has seen to it that you're safe here." Lupin frowned.

At that Harry's expression became hard and he crossed his arms in front of his chest, before saying defiantly, "Well, it's not the first time Dumbledore's plans don't play out as expected. I guess Voldemort has simply found a way to break through the wards and locate me."

Harry ignored Tonks' little flinch at the mention of Voldemort's name and stemmed his hands on his sides, glaring at Lupin and Moody, the first squirming a little, the second too scarred to read any kind of expression out of him.

"So now Voldemort knows were I am during my summers. Big deal! It's not like I'm going to come back here anytime soon, now is it?"

"Now don't jump the hippogriff, Harry," admonished Lupin, but was cut off by Harry almost immediately.

"It's my last year at Hogwarts, Remus," he said, his voice a little softer now. "I don't think Uncle Vernon is going to welcome me back into his house ever again, since I'm going to be legally of age as soon as I leave Hogwarts. So I will not be coming back here, even if I wanted to."

"I guess you're right," Lupin finally agreed, his shoulders slumping a little. "So we should get you out of here, I guess?"

"Just a moment," Harry said, and signed them with both hands to wait. "We have to…"

His word was cut off mid-sentence, as the ground between them suddenly erupted into a mighty explosion and they were thrown off their feet in all directions. Harry soared through the air spinning wildly and finally hit the ground hard, skidding several feet to a dusty halt. He coughed forcedly, feeling as if an entire handful of dirt was rattling around in his lungs, while his head spun so violently, that he thought he was going to throw up. When he opened his eyes, everything was blurred and fogged up, but when he reached his hand to his face, he found that his unclear vision depended more on the absence of his glasses than on his shaken self, so he immediately began to search the ground frantically.

He felt the panic rise inside of him and his heart hammering against his ribcage, while his fingers were unsuccessfully exploring the rough earth under them.

'Come on,' he thought, hearing steps to his left crackling on the rubble. 'Please, I need you.' Then suddenly without even realizing what he was doing, he shouted, "Accio Glasses!" Suddenly he felt the familiar frame of his spectacles hit the palm of his hand and he immediately jerked them upwards onto his nose and whipped around to see… to see what he thought to be the last images of his life.

The Death Eater, which had been hit first by Moody, was towering over him, the now unmasked face burnt on the left side and madness glinting furiously in his eyes. Harry looked into them and saw only his own death, waiting for him, ready to swallow him whole, never to be seen again. Harry knew instinctively that this man didn't care if he lived or died, as long as he – Harry – died too in the process. When the Death Eater opened his mouth, Harry knew what he was going to say, the last words he was ever going to hear:

"Avada Kehh…" But suddenly the madman took in a sharp gasp of air and arched his back, as his face contorted itself in pain and he stumbled to the right, giving way to the sight of – Dudley.

Incredulously Harry watched as his cousin followed the Death Eater with quick dancing steps, like those Harry had seen him use in his boxing videos. Still scrambling the dark clad figure jerked around, levelling his wand at whatever new threat was attacking him, but Dudley was on top of him with two swift strides ducking under the outstretched arm, and sank his fist into the man's stomach.

Before Harry could even blink, Dudley extended a well-placed one-two and finished off his adversary with a smashing uppercut to his chin, which nearly lifted the grown man from his feet. The Death Eater fell to the ground in a crumpled heap and Dudley stood over him a few seconds, panting heavily.

"Dudley," gurgled Harry, his lungs still full of dirt. No reaction.

Harry scrambled to his feet and swayed one or two times, before he could find a steady footing and coughed repeatedly, to clear his dry throat.

"Dudley!" he shouted and this time his voice seemed to have an effect on his cousin, as Dudley's head jerked up at the same time as his fists, before he recognized Harry and finally relaxed. Dudley had to breathe in deeply several times, before he could speak.

"Is he down?" he asked almost incredulously, his gaze whipping back and forth between the unconscious Death Eater and his cousin.

"Pretty much," coughed Harry with a grin spreading on his face, as the whole irony of the situation slowly began to sink in. "You knocked him out cold, Dud. You… You saved my life." At that the both of them could only stare at each other for several seconds, their jaws hanging open stupidly.

And then they both erupted into laughter. At first it was a little tense, but soon they both laughed out freely and so hard that they had to lean against each other to avoid falling over. For the first time since they knew each other – which was in fact ever, as Harry remembered with a little twinge – they both laughed in unison and together thumping each other on the back like friends.

How much time they had wasted on their ridiculous feud over all these years, in which they could have done so many things together. And Harry had to admit, that it hadn't been entirely Dudley's fault too.

"Harry. Harry!" came suddenly Lupin's voice form the dust-clad shadows surrounding them, which made Dudley immediately snap back into fighting stance. But Harry laid a hand on his thick arm soothingly and called, still laughing, "We're here, Remus!"

Only a second later the werewolf stepped into view coughing slightly and waving his hands around to disperse the fine dust of the explosion that still clung to the air surrounding him. Right after him was Tonks, her green hair now covered in a thin layer of brown and grey equally flailing around with her arms.

"Where's Moody," Harry asked immediately noticing the missing Order-member, but Lupin waved dismissively, a smug grin on his face.

"He's back there," he said thrusting his thumb over his shoulder. "He's been thrown against that swing and his wooden leg's broken, but he's repairing it at the moment, so he'll be fine in a minute."

"More like right now," Moody's growling voice came from behind Tonks, before he stepped past her and Lupin over to the last Death Eater. "Must be loosing my touch," he said grumpily, prodding the crumpled figure with his restored prosthetic limb. "If even such a lowlife scum can recuperate from one of my stunners that fast, I really must be getting old."

"Don't blame yourself Moody," said Tonks putting a hand on the old Auror's shoulder. "Maybe he had some sort of absorption charm on him, or something," she said looking down at the Death Eater too. "And Harry's Ok, so everything's all right. Right?"

"Yeah, Harry's all right already," Moody growled again. "But no thanks to me." And with that he looked up, his magical eye swivelling onto Dudley's massive frame, as he said, "Thanks, lad. I owe you one."

Dudley immediately reddened violently, oddly remembering Harry of an angry Uncle Vernon, but the thought left his mind as fast as it had entered it, and he turned to the others announcing proudly, "This is my cousin Dudley Dursley."

Then he turned over to Dudley and did the honours.

"Dudley, meet Alastor Moody, one of the best Aurors the Ministry ever had…"

"Well, not so good anymore, it seems," growled Moody, as he stretched his gnarly hand forward for Dudley to shake.

"…Professor Remus Lupin, my Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher during third year…" Again they shook hands.

"…and finally Nymphadora Tonks, also Auror for the Ministry of Magic."

When Dudley took her diminutive hand in his giant palm, he smiled shortly and instead of shaking it, he just held it for a moment, hinting a small bow, at which Tonks sniggered. Then Dudley turned back to Harry and asked, "Auror?"

"Kind of a Police Special Forces," Harry explained shortly at which Dudley nodded apprehensively.

Then Moody thumped him on the shoulder and chuckled, "You got a nice swing there, lad."

"Uhm, thanks," said Dudley with a smile to the old Auror. "And your floating and whirling thing sure was cool too."

"Ahm," Lupin cleared his throat a little awkwardly. "I hate to interrupt, but I think we should go, before they send reinforcements or something like that. The Ministry Commando for Magical Catastrophes should be here any minute now, but until then we're serving ourselves on a platter."

"I agree," said Moody grabbing the Death Eater by his cloak and dragging him over to where the others lay still unconscious. "I'm going to deliver this lot here to Azkaban and be at the Order later."

"Right," said Lupin and Tonks in unison just a second before Moody and the little heap of soon-to-be-prisoners disappeared form sight.

"We have to go too," Lupin said curtly, glancing around nervously.

"But my stuff…" Harry started, only to be cut off by his cousin's hand on his shoulder.

"Got it all over there," he said pointing his thumb over his shoulder. "Had a hard time explaining that to Mum, since she saw me with the suitcases on the porch."

"And what did you say," asked Harry, who now saw two metallic suitcases standing a little way down on one side of the path, one of them lying flat on the ground obviously left there in a hurry.

"I told her I was leaving the house," Dudley said with a straight face, "to live in a little flat in London with my boyfriend." Harry nearly missed a step as he rounded on his cousin.

"You didn't."

"Of course I didn't, you twit," Dudley chuckled under his breath, "or you would hear her screams till Dover. I told her, I was going to stay for a night at Pierce's."

"And she believed you? With two suitcases?" Harry frowned at his cousin.

"Harry, she would pack me a suitcase if I was going for a day-walk to the mall. I just told her, I packed my computer, so that Pierce and I could play a few rounds of Mega Death 4."

"But you sold that a year ago."

"Harry," Dudley sighed, throwing his arms upwards in exasperation. "Are you trying to be difficult on purpose, or has that mask-guy hit you harder than it looks."

"Sorry, Dud," Harry said, looking at his cousin apologetically. "I just don't want you to get into any trouble because of me."

"Ah!" Dudley waved his hand dismissively, as he bent down and picked up one of the two suitcases from the ground. "It'll be ok. They always believe me. I'll just go over to Peeya's and ask if I can stay on the couch for the night."

"And her father's gonna… Uff… let you?" Harry asked doubtfully, while straining under the weight of the second suitcase.

"We'll think of something. Don't worry," Dudley grinned at Harry as they reached Lupin and Tonks, who were just finishing the calibration of a Portkey, which would bring them to Grimmauld Place.

"Do you have everything?" Lupin asked glancing critically at the two suitcases.

"Yup," answered Dudley in Harry's stead. "I packed everything I found in your room. Hope your clothes aren't too wrinkled up. I was kind of in a hurry."

"I'm sure they won't be, thanks Dud."

"Don't mention it." Then suddenly Dudley became a little uncomfortable and looked at Harry insecurely, before stretching out his hand at him hesitantly.

"So… friends?" he asked awkwardly and Harry looked at his cousin's hand blankly for a few seconds, clearly taken aback at Dudley's insecurity.

Then he came to a decision and said, his voice ripe with determination, "No. Family!"

Dudley's face, which had faltered for a moment at his first reply, brightened when Harry took his hand and shook it brotherly. And Harry felt his heart, oppressed by so much fear, anger and dolefulness over the years, lighten somewhat with the knowledge that today he had forged a new friendship with someone he would never have suspected.

With a last squeeze they let go and Dudley took a few steps back, to give them room for whatever mysterious transport-procedure they were going to use. Harry held up his hand in a parting wave and said, "I'll be in touch."

"I'll wait to hear from you then," Dudley waved back. "And find yourself a girlfriend," he added grinning widely. "Just look what mine's done for me."

At that Harry's face too split into a wild grin, before he felt the usual jerk behind the navel and was whirled away into the darkness.

A/N: I hope I didn't shock you too much... A reformed Dudley... Tztztz.
See you in the next chapter.
Quiz Resolution:
Robbie's inventor and the author of too many great storys and books to be all mentioned here was Isaac Asimov. If you ever come across one of his books or short stories, I strongly recommend it. And if you liked this quiz, you may want another one:
After whom or what has Mr Kulkarni named his restaurant?